Dorothy Stahl Papers, 1915-2003
General International Standard for Archival Description
Smith College Archives Northampton, MA
Finding aid encoded in NoteTab Pro. Encoded by Deborah A. Richards. 2006-08-22
Encoded Archival Description
Encoded Archival Description (EAD) Version 2002
collection
Dorothy Stahl Papers
Creation of Dorothy Stahl Papers
Time of Creation of Dorothy Stahl Papers
Stahl, Dorothy
Biographical History for: Dorothy Stahl Papers
Biographical Note Dorothy Stahl was born December 3, 1918 in Toledo, OH the only child of George Peter and Lola (Torbet) Stahl. She began taking piano lessons at the age of six but did not begin pursuing singing until the age of 16. Dorothy was educated in the public schools in Toledo and graduated from De Vilbiss High School in 1936. She began her undergraduate education at Toledo University where she concentrated on courses in Music and French. She transferred to the Chicago Musical College in the fall of 1939 and studied with voice teacher Graham Reed. Her skills progressed rapidly and she was awarded the Oliver Ditson Scholarship for $1,000. After graduating with a Bachelor of Music degree in 1942, she went directly to the Juilliard Graduate School in New York with a four-year fellowship. She studied voice with Queena Mario, a former opera singer with the Metropolitan Opera. The war prevented Dorothy from studying in Europe and Juilliard compensated by providing the voice students stage experience in a series of productions. She sang leading roles in Der Freishutz Cosi fan tutte, The Secret Marriage by Cimarosa, and Puccini's La Rondine. She received her certificate from Juilliard in 1946. During her early career she sang leading roles with the Chautauqua Opera Company, was a soloist with the Desoff Choir and the National Symphony Orchestra, and appeared on the Columbia Broadcasting Company as soloist on the "Church of the Air" and "New Voices in Song" programs. She aspired to being a member of the Metropolitan Opera and was a finalist in the Metropolitan Opera Audition of the Air in 1948. Two years later she gave her first Town Hall Recital in New York City. Dorothy began her teaching career in 1952 at Centenary Junior College in Hackettstown, NJ. She was soon persuaded to join the faculty at Smith College where she began teaching voice students in September of 1955. Dorothy was highly involved in the life of the college and her department. She served on Music Department committees, appeared in every faculty show, gave numerous recitals, served as College Marshal, and was dedicated to her voice students. She published A Selected Discography of Solo Song in 1968 and followed that with five editions the last of which was published in 1984 the year she retired. Dorothy battled Parkinson's Disease for many years and died on April 3, 2003.
Scope and Contents of the Collection This collection is 1.25 linear feet and covers the years 1918-2003. It contains diaries, correspondence, photographs, scrapbooks, newspaper clippings and sound recordings. The collection provides a comprehensive overview of the career and personal life of Dorothy Stahl. The scrapbooks and newspaper clippings give information about her performances and the sound recordings are excellent examples of her singing abilities. She keeps a diary starting in 1931 and they are short entries but somewhat introspective. As Dorothy gets older her diary entries divulge less about her inner thoughts and more about her daily activities and the state of the weather. The diaries also show her failing health visually through the detrioration of the handwriting as the Parkinson's disease makes it more difficult for her to write.
Academic records 1925-1960
Baby Book 1918-1919
Biographical information 1918-2003
Centenary Junior College 1952-1955
Chatauqua Institution 1946
Chicago Musical College 1939-1941
Clippings - newspaper 1934-1967, n.d.
Concert programs 1928-1944
Concert programs 1945-1949
Concert programs 1950-1982, n.d.
Concert - Town Hall, New York 11 Mar 1950
Correspondence
Correspondence 1933-1988, n.d.
Boepple, Paul 1953
Friends from International House in New York 1945-1972, n.d.
Jacobi, Frederick 1945-1949
Mario, Queena 1945-1949
Reed, Graham 1941-1951
Smith College - appointments, salary, promotions 1955-1984
Stahl, Lola and George 1939-1947
Students 1957-1977
Written by Dorothy Stahl 1926, 1934, 1949
Courses - Diction 1978, n.d.
Family 1917-1963
High School Yearbook - Thomas A. De Vilbiss High School, Toledo, OH 1935-1936
International House, New York City 1944-1945
Juilliard School of Music 1943-1947
Metropolitan Opera Audition of the Air 1948
Miscellaneous 1931-1949, n.d.
Mu Phi Epsilon Sorority 1938-1939
National Music League Quartet 1945
Passports 1962, 1980, 1985
Photographs
Career 1943-1966, n.d.
Childhood 1918-1936
Family c.1920-c.1960, n.d.
Family - Lola (Torbet) Stahl and George Peter Stahl c.1915-1960s
Friends 1930s-1999
Portraits c.1921-c.1970
Teaching and students 1956-1964, n.d.
Travel c.1950, 1964, n.d.
Voice teachers - Queena Mario and Graham Reed 1941-1951
Publication - Research material for Discography c.1968
Publication - A Selective Discography of Solo Song correspondence, contracts, reviews 1968-1984
Retirement - concert and party correspondence 1984
Scrapbook 1928-1939
Scrapbook - correspondence 1936-1938
Smith College course work 1958-1959
Diaries 1953-1962
Diaries 1963-1972
Diaries 1973-1982
Diaries 1983-1992
Diaries 1993-1999
Diaries - Travel 1953-1994
Sound Recordings - arranged chronologically
Metropolitan Opera broadcasts: Singing a duet from Hansel and Gretel, Queena Mario - soprano, Irene Jessner - soprano?; Singing an unidentified duet in English, Queena Mario - soprano, Mario Martinnelli - tenor 1930s
Metropolitan Opera Audition of the Air, Dorothy Stahl's audition pieces: Madga's Waltz from "La Rondine" by Puccini Vilia from "The Merry Widow" by Franz Lehar; Bess, You Is My Woman Now from "Porgy and Bess" by Gershwin, Duet with Frank Guarrera - baritone; Depuis le Jour from "Louise" by Gustav Charpentier; Duet of the Flowers from "Madame Butterfly" by Puccini, Duet with Jane Hobson - mezzo soprano; Legere hirondelles from "Mignon" by Ambrose Thomas, Duet with unidentified male bass singer; Pourquoi arrachez vous a ma sombre demeure from "La Juive" by Fromental Halevy, Duet with Gertrude Ribla - dramatic soprano 1948
Metropolitan Opera Audition of the Air, Dorothy Stahl's audition pieces 1948
Town Hall Recital - New York City: Dorothy Stahl - soprano, Robert Payson Hill - piano 11 Mar 1950
Christmas Vespers: Regina Coeli by Mozart; Smith College Choir; Harvard Glee Club; Dorothy Stahl - soprano soloist Dec 1956
WNYC Festival of American Music (radio show): 3 poems set to music by John Duke; Shelley - "My Soul is an Enchanted Boat"; James Stevens - "A Bird Sings Now"; e.e. cummings - "the mountains are dancing", Doris Silbert - narrator, Dorothy Stahl - soprano. John Duke - piano 17 Feb 1957
Thomas Mendenhall's Inauguration: 3 Sonnets by Edna St. Vincent Millay set to music by John Duke; "Sweet sounds, oh, beautiful music, do not cease"; "Time does not bring relief; you all have lied"; "Thou famished grave, I will not fill the yet", Dorothy Stahl - soprano, Louise Rood - viola, John Duke - piano Oct 1959
Smith College Museum of Art - Recital for the exhibition "Henri Fantin-Latour": Dorothy Stahl - soprano, Lory Wallfisch - piano, Ernst Wallfisch - viola 18 May 1966
Recital: Dorothy Stahl - soprano, Robert Miller - piano 9 Oct 1966
Faculty Recital: Dorothy Stahl - soprano, Robert Miller - piano, Philip Naegel - violin, John Sessions - celo, William Wittig - flute 2 Feb 1969
Recital #2: Dorothy Stahl - soprano, Unidentified pianist undated